Another small post in my slow burn Viking project. Just a pair of axemen today.
These guys are essentially a pair of the guys that we use to fill out units. Nothing terrible nor anything special about them. Armed with axes and shields, the most noteworthy thing on them is the halved shield on the one. Sometime ago, I read something about how Vikings and others of the period would paint the designs on their shields in a way that the lines of the paintwork were “off” from the lines of the actual planks of wood that were used to create their shields. This in turn meant that enemies would not know where to aim blows on a shield to be able to split it – as that would be bad for your defence.
Similarly, this pair have no emblems or knotwork on their shields – just plain halving and quartering. Some guys have to have the plain shields so the more fancy ones stand out, and that’s the job of these fellows. Similarly, their clothing is mostly in muted earth tones, and even the red shirt is a deep, earthy. browny red. (yeah, I know reds would have been much more pale, but hey!)
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Nice mate. Simple but effective. I didn’t know that about the shields. I’ve always liked Vikings. We have Saxon blood in our lineage.
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Cheers mate. One of my great grandparents was Norwegian, so I’m calling Viking blood myself there.
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Cool – lovely proportions on those axes, and good info regarding the shields mate!
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Thanks Alex. If only I could remember where I read that!
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Learned something new about the shields, and these are great figs. Nice job!
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Thanks Mark. They’ll be a nice pair to make up the masses.
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A simple and effective paint job. I also like the shield designs, they work well with these miniatures. The light texturing on the coat in combination with the desaturated green is also a nice touch.
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Thanks, the palette on these guys is designed to not stand out too much, so it’s good to hear from others that it works.
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